FOLLOWUP: 59th/Admiral all-way-stop conversion next week

(SDOT graphic for 59th/Alki all-way-stop conversion)

Three weeks ago, SDOT said it was going ahead with the plan to convert 59th/Admiral to an all-way-stop intersection, with the first phase of work to be done before school started. Since that’s just two weeks away, we asked SDOT’s Dawn Schellenberg for an update on the timeline. She tells WSB today that the stop signs will be installed next Monday or Tuesday, and once they’re in, the pedestrian signal at the intersection will be set to flashing red. The plan from there is what was announced in early August – to evaluate how it works for a few months, and if it’s a keeper, to go ahead with phase 2, which includes “decorative painted curb extensions, a relocation of the westbound bus stop, and a red flashing all-way stop beacon.”

21 Replies to "FOLLOWUP: 59th/Admiral all-way-stop conversion next week"

  • sb2780 August 23, 2017 (1:17 pm)

    I love how they decided to implement this plan just as the heaviest traffic time of the year (summer) comes to a close. Obviously, the evaluation period is just a sham. If they really wanted to study traffic impacts, they would have scheduled the roll out of this plan in May.

  • AdmiralWayResident August 23, 2017 (1:31 pm)

    Horrible idea. Crossing for school in the dark during rush hour in the winter should be interesting. I’ve been almost hit so many times crossing that I’m tempted to carry an air horn with me — if car can have horns, pedestrians should have them too (I’m joking … kind of).

    (To clarify, I don’t think changing this to a four way stop will make it any safer for crossing as a pedestrian. I’m more fearful of getting hit with the new plan.)

  • Chris August 23, 2017 (1:46 pm)

    Hoping no accidents.   This is disconcerting especially when drivers are going 45 or more….per sign.   They get irritated if we want to go the speed limit and ride our bumper.   We just have to get out of their way and then see how fast they were going.   Oh my goodness….

  • Wendell August 23, 2017 (4:53 pm)

    How about a roundabout instead, with one or two of those new fancy flashing crosswalks? Traffic will flow and peds can cross in relative safety.

  • Mark August 23, 2017 (5:26 pm)

    Its simply not Warranted.  

  • Ken August 23, 2017 (7:01 pm)

    This city has done some pretty idiotic things the past several years, but this one pretty much takes the cake.  The incompetence of Kubly and his minions is disgusting.  No doubt someone walked into a SDOT warehouse, found some unused stop signs sitting around and said to themselves: “Oh look, let’s find a place to use these so we can disrupt traffic even more and create unnecessary problems to the good folks who actually pay to utilize these streets”.  I honestly believe this city is trying to make like difficult for the residents – especially those who rely on automobiles and/or bus service.

  • Etip August 23, 2017 (10:07 pm)

    This is awful. It will cause traffic to back up Admiral. When kids are crossing for school, it won’t give them a red light to cross on – cars aren’t going to wait. They just don’t. And, it’s going to push traffic onto the side streets, where cars already speed.

    Why is SDOT so brainless? 

    Is there any way to figure this idiotic idea?

    • KBear August 24, 2017 (10:08 am)

      A stop sign will make cars not wait for pedestrians? More than the current lack of a stop sign?Your comment makes no sense, but it probably reflects the way you drive, which is why the stop signs are needed.

      • sb2780 August 24, 2017 (12:10 pm)

        It sounds like you are not familiar with this intersection. It’s not a standard 4 way stop. 59th is divided by a median, and is 1 way heading north and heading south. This is confusing in and of itself. There is also a left lane turn pocket to 59th from Admiral. The intersection now has a designated light for pedestrians. The added confusion caused by the stop sign and traffic right-of-way issues will not give pedestrians the dedicated crossing that they now have. This intersection needs an actual light, like the one at Admiral and Waite, if SDOT feels it warrants a change.

      • Etip August 24, 2017 (10:34 pm)

        Kbear, interesting approach to a discussion – making it a personal attack on me, when it has nothing to do with me personally. 

        Maybe you misunderstood what I was saying. 

        With a stop sign, cars often slow down and roll through. Has nothing to do with my driving style.

        At a stop light, cars aren’t as likely to run a red light. At this intersection, where I walk a group of kids across every school day, I can absolutely imagine that cars will try to sneak through, behind the kids as they  cross. With the red light, cars stop and the kids cross safely. 

        Maybe you should spend some time at the various stop signs around and see how.many cars come to complete stops. It might surprise you that most don’t. 

        It’s hard to imagine how the city thinks a stop sign will help traffic and promote safety better then the button operated stop light. 

  • Grumpy August 24, 2017 (1:41 pm)

    The “curb bulb” blocking right turns onto 59th toward Alki Elementary is the most stupid thing about the plan.  School administration want 59th St. to be treated as one-way northbound during pickup and drop-off times, so the naturally the geniuses at SDOT install an obstacle to create a giant traffic snarl on Admiral and make the right turn more difficult.  What they should do is put a marked right-turn lane so cars can turn right and go straight simultaneously when it’s their turn, clearing more quickly the huge pile of traffic that will back up on Admiral.

    Or they could just not fix what’s not broken.  Especially in summer this will create such a backup on Admiral that ten-minute waits will be common, and Alki residents will learn to come down the hill a different way, via Charleston, Orleans, Spokane, and 59th St.  People up that way will hate it.

  • Admiral Driver August 24, 2017 (2:42 pm)

    Wasn’t it just a few months ago that traffic and crosswalk lights were installed at that intersection? Seems like Kuby and company should do better studies (if they did any at all) before they spend (and re-spend) tax money on projects like this.  I wonder how much in time and materials were spent on the first “revision” and how much more on this second “revision”? Furthermore, I could be wrong but it seems to me that this will also cause more pollution with every car having to stop and start at the intersection vs the way it is now. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for pedestrian safety but not for wasting taxpayer funds! C’mon SDOT, get it together!!

  • David Manley August 29, 2017 (8:54 pm)

    This is not only dangerous but it is just a stupid idea.  Whoever came up with this idea  clearly does not live in the local area and does not understand the local traffic here. Replacing a stop light with Stop Signs is a bad idea because drivers will just roll through the stop sign. This WILL be a hazard to the kids going to school in the morning.  I have observed first hand that everyone stops for the traffic light that is there now, leave it alone!

    I wrote Dawn Schellenberg as to what the criteria was for this change but she just gave me a bunch of subterfuge and did not answer my questions. Typical bureaucrat, avoid the hard questions!

    Why are we letting a bureaucrat force this down our throats?  They do not live here and, based upon this blog, never asked us if this is what we want.  It is like they are being controlled by a dictator or king and they think they know best what is best for us.  Why are we letting them do this to us?

      

  • Bdorf August 30, 2017 (7:59 am)

    Well this seemed to workout well.  Already this morning I have had 2 near accidents going to/from my home as some asshats not only ignore the stop sign but went around me as I was turning left to 59th.  Certainly hope no kids get hurt next week when school starts.  

    Good job seattle for implementing another great dumb plan for traffic!

    • Ken August 30, 2017 (2:59 pm)

      Absolutely correct BDORF!  I spent 7 or 8 minutes parked on 59th facing Admiral Way earlier today and was amazed (well,  not really) about how many people blew through the signs or went around the cars that actually stopped as they should have done.  And coming back a few minutes ago, some idiot nearly rear ended me as I was stopped westbound on Admiral.  He jerked his truck to the right very quickly so as not to hit me and went up on the sidewalk.  Good thing nobody was waiting for a bus.  They would have been underneath him.

      This is truly one of the most asinine, idiotic things I’ve ever seen done in the name of traffic management in any city.  And of course there was nobody around from SDOT monitoring the situation.  

      As GRUMPY mentioned a few posts ago, I’ll now be using Charleston, Orleans, Spokane and 59th in the future.  Which brings up another pet peeve about the people traveling west on Spokane turning right onto northbound 59th and completely ignoring the clearly visible stop sign.  Good spot for a traffic camera if there ever was one. 

  • Admiral Driver August 30, 2017 (11:07 pm)

    The entire Admiral Way rework was poorly conceived and implemented. I drive this almost every day and have seen maybe 5-10 cyclists over a six month period – and I am being very generous; it’s actually more like a year. My son and I always laugh: “Oh hey, a cyclist spotted!” And all that rerouting for what? And how many folks? If they had done proper research, they would have discovered that most cyclists who commute from the Alki area take the Harbor Avenue path. Also, the approach/curve after the earlier light on 47th is misaligned – is SDOT aware of their shoddy work there? Who designs these projects? It’s kind of embarrassing, really. I hope Kubly is the first one out the door when the new mayor takes office.

    • Admiral Driver 2 August 30, 2017 (11:38 pm)

      I’m Admiral Driver 2 – sorry, I didn’t see the original name of the earlier poster :-).

  • Alki Resident August 31, 2017 (7:36 pm)

    We should all plan to attend the next Alki Community Council Meeting which is apparently September 21st at the Alki Church:

    Meets Third Thursday of the Month at 7: 00 pm

    6115 SW Hinds St

    (No meetings August or December)

    If the Council takes a stance, it may carry more weight than indiviiduals.

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